This is the video -- 35 minutes long -- of my trip to the DNC Convention Media Walkthrough in Denver, Colorado. It started with my flight to Denver on United that Monday night, which was delayed for about two hours. My intent was to get in during the day but because of the flight backup, I ended up getting in at 11 PM.
The other problem is that I'd not been to Denver since the age of 14. In other words, before I knew how to drive. So my first thought upon landing was "Where the hell am I." My second view was who do I call if I'm lost?
Yikes!
At any rate, the people at National Rental Car in Denver, were great. They gave me a Toyota Prius for rent at a cheap rate. I was inimidated just because it's a vastly different car, but after a short training session, and a drive, I was a big fan of the car.
Especially since it had a GPS device. That was a life-saver for me. Wow.
I finally got to my hotel room at the StayBridge Suite in Englewood, Co. Nice big place of a room, with a kitchen where I burned popcorn in a microwave oven. I am glad it was one night, because I couldn't even make a good pot of coffee -- it came out watery.
The next morning I got up to a bright, sunny ...and hot day. My wakeup call was 6 AM and I got going after 30 min more of slumber. Hey. I need my sleep.
After a rush-hour drive, I got to the Pepsi Center, got my credential, and made a video of interviews with Rich Grant and Chris Lopez, the communications directors for the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Denver DNC Host Committee, respectively. Grant said that he expected an economic impact of $164 million and Lopez cleared up the funding news regarding the DNC Convention, saying that of almost $40 million needed, about 70 percent, or $28 million, was raised, and that about $11 million was remaining.
Then I headed to the Media breakfast and meet and greet, where I met a number of people that I interviewed in the video and will expound more on later.
YouTuber Brandon Keating Sr. started off his appearance on Zennie's Zeitgeist with a bang, presenting his take on a video of an elderly John McCain protester's unnecessary and questionable treatment by law enforcement. Welcome Brandon and keep them coming!
I happened to visit the Calitcs Blog, when I saw an article calling for nothing less than the censure of Senator Diane Feinstein. Why? Because of her support for the FISA bill that just past, and her alledged role as swing vote confirming, as Caltics put it, the appointments of Michael Mukasey, President Bush's torture-condoning nominee for Attorney General, and Leslie Southwick, a racist and homophobic judge.
Yikes!
It seems that no action has stopped Feinstein, according to Caltics.:
We've tried everything to get Sen. Feinstein's attention. Phone calls. Emails. Faxes. Petitions. Protests. Smoke signals. We even launched an online petition supporting a proposed California Democratic Party censure resolution of Sen. Feinstein last November that spread like wildfire across the grassroots, with 35,039 Californians signing on in support.
The censure movement also catalyzed national media attention, fueled by endorsements from MoveOn.org, Progressive Democrats of America, the California Democratic Party Women's Caucus and Progressive Caucus, as well as 38 chartered Democratic Clubs across California.
A number of people have asked if the Courage Campaign would support holding Senator Feinstein accountable for caving on warrantless wiretapping by re-launching the censure resolution inside the California Democratic Party. It's an important question but, frankly, a censure resolution is merely a piece of paper unless there's a people-powered movement behind it.
That's why we're putting this decision in your hands today. If grassroots and netroots activists across California support a new censure resolution of Senator Feinstein, we will launch a censure campaign leading up to the California Democratic Party's next Executive Board meeting.
Yikes!
The problem is when is that meeting? The site of the California State Democratic Party presents the standing committees, but no meeting date for an "Executive Board."
I should have asked Cal Dem Party head Art Torres when I saw him at the Karen Bass event.
FISA is for "Foreign"
The last time I checked, the title of the FISA bill was Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, not "American" or AISA. What's the deal? Are we growing a nation of people who can't read? I have no problem with the FISA bill vote. But the other Feinstein matters deserve the once over. I'd stop short of calling for a censure, however. I think a fair reading of Feinstein's accomplishments is in order. Stay tuned.
Which blogs are the "credentialed blogs" for the DNC Convention? Here's a list below. This blog also has a blog roll of them if you look to the right and scroll down. But here's the list:
"Truth to tell, we South Carolinians have been jilted before we got to the altar so many times we don't bother with trousseau shoppin' any more. We've lost faith. Abandoned hope. The Dems gave up on us long ago and the GOP knows we can be had, cheap."
Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call Don't stand in the doorway Don't block up the hall...
The times?
They are a-changing: In the summer of 2007 Senator Barack Obama promised the people of South Carolina he'd work for them if they'd have him. Obama's keeping his promise, which reflects his fifty state strategy.
Ms. Hansen compares the state of the McCain & Obama campaigns, and while the polls suggest that McCain has the traditional lead, the mood on the ground is - evidently - not indicative of a Republican lock on the electoral votes come November.
I would first like to thank Zennie for inviting me to this blog and have the ability to post here. My views may not represent how you feel, or how Zennie feels. I do thank him for giving me a voice on here.
Now this may be an old story, but I am still upset with it. I was completely in awe when I discovered that the McCain camp removed the Librarian from the so called "Public" event for holding a sign that read "McCain = Bush". I was further disgusted when I learned she was cited for "Trespassing". Yes, trespassing at a public event. Public meaning "people in general", public meaning "NON PRIVATE".
If we have the freedom of speech, shouldn't we be allowed to express ourselves the way we see fit? Shouldn't we be able to express our opinions even if it does not "fit in" with the republican party?
If you missed the actual video, here is the 61 year old librarian being cited for "trespassing".
And here is my response. Please excuse the cursing, as I am a former sailor. lol
Senator John McCain's campaign will look back on this as a terrible day and a major one in what seems to be an incredible one-week meltdown that will certainly lead to a bump in the polls for the already leading Democratic Senator Barack Obama.
Former Senator and McCain Advisor Phil Gramm made a comment that's caught fire. Everyone's having a field day with what Phil Gramm said. Former Senator Gramm seems to think that Americans should just shut up and take the fact of the worstening economy without comment:
“You’ve heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession,” Gramm, a former Texas senator, told the newspaper, adding that the presumptive Republican nominee will face an uphill battle fighting those perceptions.
“We have sort of become a nation of whiners,” he said. “You just hear this constant whining, complaining about a loss of competitiveness, America in ‘decline’ despite a major export boom that is the primary reason that growth continues in the economy.”
This didn't miss the eye of "RaisingKaine"'s Lowell, who writes Yeah, Sen. McCain, you certainly were correct when you said you didn't know much about economics!
The comment by Senator Gramm did not miss the eye of Senator Barack Obama. The Presumptive Democratic Nominee said "We already have one Dr. Phil" referring to the television star therapist.
Meanwhile, Senator McCain, facing yet another reason to get mad at someone, which he's proven he's good at, immediately threw McCain under the bus, banishing him to Belarus. According to Fox News Mosheh Oinounou...
“I don’t agree with Senator Gramm. I believe that the person here in Michigan that just lost his job isn’t suffering a ‘mental recession.’ I believe the mother here in Michigan and around America who is trying to get enough money to educate their children isn’t ‘whining,’” McCain told reporters today. “America is in great difficulty and we are experiencing enormous economic challenges as well as others. Phil Gramm does not speak for me. I speak for me. So, I strongly disagree.”
McCain has previously said that “no one is more qualified” on economic issues than Gramm, who serves a national campaign co-chair, but made clear today that he was unhappy with the former Texas senator when asked if Gramm would have a role in a future McCain administration.
“I think Senator Gramm would be in serious consideration for ambassador to Belarus, although I’m not sure the citizens of Minsk would welcome that,” McCain said.
For his part, and I think this is the most damaging to McCain, Senator Gramm stood by his remarks. "I'm not going to retract any of it. Every word I said was true," Gramm said.
Wow.
I guess Senator Gramm wants to stick it to Senator McCain. Sure looks that way, yes? On top of that, Senator McCain looked totally uncomfortable in the way he ducked a question about Viagra and health care. More on that soon.
Why is it Christian "leaders" so often seem to want the REST of us to follow precepts and/or adhere to standards of behavior that they don't apply to themselves?
Have Reverend Jackson and Pastor Dobson jumped the shark?
I'm glad Jesse Jackson apologized for his inappropriate language and that he's trying to do a bit of damage control. I know the media love dishing dirt and all this colorful talk (or in Jackson's case, "off color") of fruitcake and nuts, but like James Dobson before him, Jesse Jackson doesn't speak for me.
Fox News Fred Barnes' has a knack for trying to be so conservative and score points with the Bush Adminstration, that he makes dumb statements more often than not, by far.
Barnes -- on today's Fox News Panel With Britt Hume -- famously observed, in response to how some liberal browsers were attacking Obama on his support of the reformed FISA Act, said "Who Reads Bloggers?"
Well, in the sprit of that civic dis, we have "The Fred Barnes Watch" -- coming soon.
Senator Clinton and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg On Obama Plane Wednesday
What does it tell you when Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg (who's heading Senator Barack Obama's search for a vice presidential candidate) are on the Obama airplane on the same day that Senator Obama casts a vote in favor of a slightly refined Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that Clinton opposed?
It tells me that Clinton's going to be the Vice Presidential Canidate for Obama.
We awoke on the Obama plane on the Reagan International Airport tarmac with news that we'd have not one, but two special guests on our trip to New York. The first was Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama's onetime nemesis and now seemingly close cohort as she tries to both influence the direction of the general campaign and recoup the millions of dollars in debt she owes as the result of the race. The second? Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, daughter of the late president and vice presidential search committee.
The latter arrived on the plane with Obama, sporting some aviator sunglasses. At the moment, his "body man" Reggie Love is passing out cookies to those press held up in the back of the plane. We'll return with a beverage update if time permits.
This is a great political "headfake" that was so good, it caught Pappu off guard, treating it as routine news. It's anything but
The FISA issue and Obama's vote caught the press entirely off-guard. CNN took the bait hook-line-and-sinker today, reporting that Clinton and Obama were "at odds" with each other, and that the issue could harm her VP chances.
Senator Ted Kennedy, courageously battling terminal brain cancer, returned to his Senate duties and in the process displayed his uncanny knack for great political timing. Recognizing that his vote would not only break a tie in the overall voting for a bil preventing a six percent cut in Medicare, but perhaps bring some Republicans over to the Democratic Side, Kennedy made the trip to Capitol Hill, and was given a war hero's welcome.
I can't wait to see him at the Democratic National Convention. You just know he's excited to appear before this grand stage.